


Burying the Hatchet

by campanellis



Category: Degrassi, Degrassi High, Degrassi Junior High
Genre: Enemies to Friends, Gen, I’ve wanted to write something for them for a while, Set during crossed wires when Joey gives Dwayne a ride home
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-20
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:29:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29586570
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/campanellis/pseuds/campanellis
Summary: Joey gives Dwayne a ride home, and they finally apologize for everything that they had done to each other over the last few years.
Relationships: Joey Jeremiah & Dwayne Myers
Comments: 6
Kudos: 7





	Burying the Hatchet

Joey had never been good at awkward silences. 

All it did was make him struggle even harder to keep in the word vomit that _always_ seemed desperate to come out. And usually, he _never_ said the right things. 

But, he had already said _one_ stupid thing today ( _Really_ ? _‘At least you wouldn’t have to do it yourself? Good one, Jeremiah)_ and wasn’t sure if he could avoid the beating Dwayne may give him if he let another dumb comment slip through. 

So, he stuck to fiddling with the radio. He knew he was changing the channels _way_ too many times, but it was all he could do to avoid any uncomfortable conversations. 

“Hey, I liked that song.”

Dwayne smacked his hand away from the radio, forcing Joey to let go of his safety net. Some heavy metal crap Joey had never ever _heard_ of before began blasting through the speakers, and Joey couldn’t stop himself from shooting Dwayne a dirty look.

Why had he even asked the other boy if he needed a lift, anyways? It’s not like one sorta-friendly conversation somehow made them friends. Dwayne still probably hated his guts, and Joey _was_ just being nice.

Really, how could he not be? Even Joey knew that it was only right to tone down the fighting with what Dwayne was going through. 

This, of course, wasn’t enough to stop him from shooting back a biting remark.

“Great music taste, man.” He said, making sure that his voice was dripping in sarcasm.

Joey knew all about music. He had been in a band for so long, after all. He had even written his own song, and shot his own music video. So, knew he was educated on what was good music or not, and he knew that _this_ … it just wasn’t good music. 

Dwayne seemed to disagree, however. 

“Yeah, and you know _all_ about music. I’ve heard your song, can’t say I’d trust your word for it.” 

_Ouch_. 

Joey turned towards him after finally pulling up to Dwayne's house, his eyes blazing. 

“Y’know, I _did_ give you a ride home. You don’t have to be such a jerk.” He snapped, crossing his arms defiantly and shooting daggers at the other boy. 

Dwayne just rolled his eyes, scoffing at Joey’s dramatics.

“Well, I _did_ fix _your_ car. And you insulted my taste in music first, so I'd say we’re even.” 

Joey realized, with some hesitation, that maybe Dwayne was right. He _had_ started it this time. But that realization wasn’t enough to make him uncross his arms and soften his look. Dwayne has been nothing but an ass to him since the day that they met.

“Oh, yeah? Well you’re the one who got me busted for my bet, _you’re_ the one who tripped me in class every day.” 

“—You got me suspended for a fight that _you_ started. Do you know how much trouble I got in?”

Joey rolled his eyes, not really caring much about Dwayne’s woes in the moment. Why should he? It was like he was being reminded of _every_ single reason he had absolutely _hated_ the guy.

“Yeah? Oh _yeah_? Well, _you_ shoved me off my skateboard in grade eight, so take that!” 

Dwayne stared at him for a moment before bursting out into laughter. 

“Grade eight? _Really?_ You had to bring up something from when we were _fourteen?_ ” He said through his laughter, clearly in disbelief that Joey had actually resorted to bringing up something from so long ago.

Joey tried to stay stone faced, but he couldn’t help but join in Dwayne’s laughter, and he _definitely_ couldn’t deny how ridiculous the whole conversation was. 

Dwayne, however, suddenly stopped laughing. He looked away from Joey, a more serious expression showing up on his face. 

“Listen. I’m sorry. alright? I have been sort’ve an ass to you. And I guess I kinda owe you. For... not telling anyone what I told you.” 

He stayed turned away from Joey, the apology clearly very difficult for him. It was shocking for Joey to hear, but he was pretty used to feeling shocked nowadays, especially when it came to Dwayne.

Joey appreciated the apology at the same time, though. And he’d be lying if he had said that he had never had done anything bad to Dwayne.

He supposed that maybe it really wasn’t fair to hate the guy, or to blame everything on him, not when he had started his fair share of fights with him. Not when he was apologizing. 

“... Hey, man. It’s cool. I was always kinda a jerk to you, too. And I won’t tell anyone what you told me, okay? I wouldn’t do that.” 

Dwayne looked at him, a small smile appearing on his face. He nodded, opening the car door and finally getting ready to step out.

“Thanks.” He nearly whispered, before slamming the door shut and disappearing up his porch and into his house. 

Joey sat in his car for a minute, processing what had just happened. It was strange for him to not feel any resentment towards Dwayne, but it was kind of nice, too. 

He started his car, smiling softly to himself as he made his way home. 


End file.
